Honda’s Fujino Readies ‘Flying Acura’ to Challenge Cessna

Michimasa Fujino began working on Honda Motor Co.’s aviation project 27 years ago at a hangar in Mississippi. Next year, Fujino, now president of the aircraft unit, says the project may finally get off the ground.

If so, Tokyo-based Honda would become the first newcomer to get U.S. approval in the $21 billion business-jet market since 2006. That would pit the carmaker against market leaders Textron Inc.’s Cessna and Brazil’s Embraer SA, who have fended off threats from companies such as Bill Gates-backed Eclipse Aviation, which sought bankruptcy protection five years ago.